Recently, we discussed what should go in your UCAS personal statement. This is the most important part of your university application and so it deserves the utmost attention. No matter how well-crafted, there are things you can do and put in your personal statement that will receive an immediate rejection. Avoid making these mistakes in your application.
Namedropping
It doesn’t matter who you are or how relevant your family background is to your application, you should never rely on “nepotism”. For example, it is not relevant if you are applying for a psychology course to mention that your mother has been a therapist for the last 20 years. They want your application to stand on its own merits. If you personally have relevant experience working with family members, then mention it. However, namedropping is not relevant.
Demonstrating Poor Understanding of the Topic
Many university courses don’t have a natural transition from GCSEs and A-levels. Anthropology is one example where few subjects at lower qualification levels are relevant to the application. It is essential that you tailor your application to explain that you understand for what you are applying. Admissions lecturers will automatically reject any application where students explain why they are applying for this course and fail to address the issue. Research the subject and make your application relevant.
Discard Meaningless Stock Phrases
“I’m laid back and I like socialising with friends”. Not only is this irrelevant, you would be hard-pressed to find somebody who didn’t describe themselves as such. The problem is that prospective students are often looking for personally relevant statements and experiences that they go for the first thing that comes into their head. They want to present themselves as a well-rounded individual. The worst cliché that most applications start with is “From a young age…”
List Items
List items work on the internet, but they don’t work on university applications. List items on any application almost seem like a box ticking exercise. The university is less interested in your bucket list (or countries you’ve visited, or jobs you’ve had) than they are about what you learnt from the experience. Have you visited 20 countries? Great, but choose one or two – preferably those relevant to your university application – and discuss the experiences you gained from it.
Famous Quotations
Another trend of internet culture is to express oneself using the words of others. It may sound clever, but it’s lazy. The Admissions Tutor is not interested in what Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Cicero, Leonardo Da Vinci or Kim Kardashian think, even if it is relevant to your application. They what to hear what you have to say, using your own words, and relevant to the application. Nothing grates on the modern university Admissions Tutor more than this – it’s seen as pretentious.